144TH YEAR, NO. 139
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2017
ONE DOLLAR
KNAPPA LOGGERS CRUISE TO 48-POINT VICTORY SPORTS • PAGE 10A
College
weighs
timber
lawsuit
Decision coming later
over class action
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Alex Hanson sleds down Coxcomb Hill with her two sons, Byron Hanson, center, and Henry Hanson, today in Astoria.
Slip slidin’ at play
Snow blankets
the North Coast
The Daily Astorian
fl urry of snow Tuesday night and this
morning blanketed parts of Clatsop
County and left hundreds of students
in Astoria and Knappa with a snow day.
The National Weather Service expected
snow through 10 a.m. today, with accumu-
lation of less than 1/2 inch. The tempera-
ture was expected to increase to a high of 35
degrees, with mostly sunny skies.
The snow closed Astoria, Knappa and
Jewell school districts , along with Clatsop
Community College. Seaside School Dis-
trict delayed classes by two hours, and the
Northwest Regional Service Center can-
celed morning preschool.
The Way to Wellville Community Forum,
scheduled for tonight, has been canceled.
A
UPS reports that there will be no pick-
ups or deliveries today in Clatsop County
and many other areas in Oregon, Washing-
ton, California and Nevada.
As of 9 a.m., the state Department of
Transportation did not report any major acci-
dents on regional highways. The sunset sum-
mit reporting station on U.S. Highway 26
near the intersection with Oregon Highway
47 reported 2 inches of packed snow. Drivers
were required to carry chains or traction tires.
Tonight is expected to be partly cloudy,
with a low of 30 degrees. The National
Weather Service forecasted a sunny Thurs-
day, with patches of freezing fog Thurs-
day night and Friday morning. The forecast
becomes cloudy Friday and Saturday, before
switching to rain Saturday night and Sunday.
Clatsop Community College’s board
of directors met in executive session Tues-
day with lawyers representing Linn County
in the $1.4 billion class action timber law-
suit against the state.
The college will hold
a special meeting Jan.
24 to decide whether
the school should
remain involved.
“The point of them
was to give informa-
tion on the lawsuit, not
to say for or against,”
said college President
Christopher
Breit-
Christopher
meyer of the executive
Breitmeyer
session, which was
closed to the public and the news media but
discussed near the end of Tuesday’s board
meeting.
Linn County fi led the lawsuit last
year, claiming the state was required to
See COLLEGE, Page 7A
Dam will
not be
used for
mitigation
Mayor Kujala said
fl ood control is concern
By ERICK BENGEL
and DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Henry Hanson climbs up
toward the Astoria Column
as snow falls this morning .
WARRENTON — Mayor Mark Kujala
and Commissioner Rick Newton said Tues-
day night that the Eighth Street Dam would
be used for fl ood control, not as wetlands
mitigation for a future development project,
if the city takes control.
The dam is the focus of an ongoing prop-
erty dispute between the city and the Ski-
panon Water Control District, which has
operated the dam since the federal govern-
ment built it in 1963. The city claims the
water district forfeited a city easement when
the district removed the tide gates and ceased
to operate the structure as intended.
See DAM, Page 7A
College pulls away from Performing Arts Center
PAC is home
to art groups,
fellowship
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community Col-
lege debuted the Performing
Arts Center 40 years ago as
an extension of the main cam-
pus, with classes and other
programs at the former church
turned community center.
At the college board’s Tues-
day meeting, President Chris-
topher Breitmeyer signaled a
shift away from the center as a
college asset.
“Moving forward with our
strategic planning, it doesn’t
look like that’s going to be a
major portion of that,” Breit-
meyer said. “We don’t neces-
sarily see a return to college
programming at that venue.”
Breitmeyer said events that
had been held in the arts cen-
ter, such as the end-of-year
presentations by the federal
TRIO student support program
run through the college, would
migrate to the new Patriot
Hall, expected to open in May.
College board members
did not comment Tuesday on
the center. Breitmeyer said the
college will meet this week
with the Partners for the PAC,
a coalition of performance art
groups that has paid for the
operation of the center for
more than four years, about
the next steps. He said the
yearly lease agreement with
the group, which is up this
month, will continue into the
near future.
“But ultimately, I don’t
think we’ll be probably
holding any college events in
the future going forward at the
PAC,” Breitmeyer said.
A busy place
Starting Friday at the arts
center is “All in the Timing,”
a fi ve-part comedy benefi t play
for Partners for the PAC.
See PAC, Page 7A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community College will no longer hold educa-
tional events at the Performing Arts Center, located at
16th Street and Franklin Avenue in Astoria. The arts center
is also used by members of Partners for the PAC, a coal i-
tion of performance art groups that pays for the operation
and maintenance of the building.